Pages

Monday, August 31, 2009

Gold nanoparticles for lung cancer detection

Nature Nano published an article yesterday by Peng et al. (from Hossam Haick's group at Technion) claiming lung cancer detection by a breathe analyzer based on gold nanoparticles and the resistivity change upon contact with the patient's breathe.

Thin film of thiols with a monolayer of gold particles are wrapped into compartments that are called chemiresistors. The difference in the resistance to the applied current gives away if you have some of the characteristic volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Truly a fascinating study. I hope it makes through the clinical trials.For those who want to learn more here is the abstract:Nature NanotechnologyPublished online: 30 August 2009 | doi:10.1038/nnano.2009.235

Conventional diagnostic methods for lung cancer1, 2 are unsuitable for widespread screening2, 3 because they are expensive and occasionally miss tumours. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry studies have shown that several volatile organic compounds, which normally appear at levels of 1–20 ppb in healthy human breath, are elevated to levels between 10 and 100 ppb in lung cancer patients4, 5, 6. Here we show that an array of sensors based on gold nanoparticles can rapidly distinguish the breath of lung cancer patients from the breath of healthy individuals in an atmosphere of high humidity. In combination with solid-phase microextraction7, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry was used to identify 42 volatile organic compounds that represent lung cancer biomarkers. Four of these were used to train and optimize the sensors, demonstrating good agreement between patient and simulated breath samples. Our results show that sensors based on gold nanoparticles could form the basis of an inexpensive and non-invasive diagnostic tool for lung cancer.

Lung cancer accounts for 28% of cancer-related deaths. Approximately 1.3 million people die worldwide every year1, 2. Breath testing is a fast, non-invasive diagnostic method that links specific volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath to medical conditions8, 9. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS)4, 6, ion flow tube mass spectrometry10, laser absorption spectrometry11, infrared spectroscopy12, polymer-coated surface acoustic wave sensors5 and coated quartz crystal microbalance13 sensors have been used for this purpose. However, these techniques are expensive, slow, require complex instruments and, furthermore, require pre-concentration of the biomarkers (that is, treating the biomarkers by a process to increase the relative concentration of the biomarkers to a level that can be detected by the specific technique) to improve detection.

Here, we report a simple, inexpensive, portable sensing technology to distinguish the breath of lung cancer patients from healthy subjects without the need to pre-treat the exhaled breath in any way (see also refs 14–16 for the diagnosis of lung cancer by sensing technology that is based on arrays of polymer/carbon black sensors). Our study consisted of four phases and included volunteers aged 28–60 years. Samples were collected from 56 healthy controls and 40 lung cancer patients after clinical diagnosis using conventional methods and before chemotherapy or other treatment. The clinical characteristics of the volunteers are listed in Supplementary Tables S1 and S2.

Chemistry Jobs

Archives

Nature: Current Issue

Nanotechnology News

NYTimes Science

This Week in Science

BBC Science

Blogroll

Copyright

Copyright 2007. All rights reserved. Contents of this webpage can only be used elsewhere by proper acknowledgment. Information from third parties may be inaccurate and misleading and the author does not accept liability. Readers are wholly responsible for their own actions.